Tag: Florida

DeSoto County Florida

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 18, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday. It’s my 2,501ST post here on WordPress since 2007. I’ve probably blogged about travel more than any other topic over the past 17 years – and even going back almost 31 years – back to 1993 – when I began my dial-up bulletin board system – an ancestor of my current blog.

Travel is my favorite topic to write and talk about. I’m happy to share my travel adventures with you – past, present, and future – each Thursday here on my blog.

This week I’m writing about a neighboring county to my southwest – the rectangular-in-shape DeSoto County.

I’ve spent very little time in this rural county that’s part of Florida’s Heartland region. I’ve driven through the county a few times along U.S. 17 and Florida State Roads 31, 70, and 72. I’d actually like to explore the historic city of Arcadia – the population center of the county near the geographical center of the county. Over 40% of the 34,000 or so residents of DeSoto County live in either Arcadia or the adjacent unincorporated community of Southeast Arcadia. DeSoto County is among the Top 20 least-populous counties (out of 67) in Florida.

I’d like to start at the Tree Of Knowledge, and take a leisurely stroll along the historic downtown district of Arcadia – with street names like Maple, Cypress, Hickory, Oak, Magnolia, and Pine – maybe enjoy a nice Lunch at one of the local eateries. There’s a soul food restaurant called Red Zone that has piqued my interest. I hear that the food is quite authentic and tasty there. The pictures presented on their Facebook page are indeed mouthwatering.

Arcadia is about 45 miles away from home. I should be able to get there within an hour. As a special bonus I’d have to drive through Zolfo Springs to get to and from Arcadia. I’d like to explore that historic town as well.

Next #TravelThursday – I hear trains. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Arcadia, DeSoto, Florida

Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

2023 – Year In Review

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 11, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the final part of my 3-week look-back at 2023. Last week it was all about my driving. This week it’s all about my walking.

I got a surprise Apple Watch for #ThanksChristmasGiving2022, and so December 2022 was my first full month of wearing it almost 24/7. That month I averaged 4,530 steps per day – or 2.27 miles per day. As it turns out I averaged more miles per day in all 12 months of 2023. My 2 “low” months were in the dead of summer in July and August when I averaged 2.38 and 2.34 miles per day respectively. My 2 “high” months were in January and May when I averaged 3.19 and 3.10 miles per day respectively.

My new neighborhood near Sebring Florida is very “walk-friendly”. Since I moved in last March I’ve walked around my neighborhood 70 times for a total of 92.79 miles. That’s an average of 1.33 miles per walk. (A complete walk around the circumference of my neighborhood is 1.15 miles.)

For all of 2023 I took a little over 1.94 million steps – or 995.64 miles. That’s an average of 2.73 miles per day over the course of the 365 days.

I know for sure that I’ll be walking a whole lot more in 2024. I’d like to walk 100 times around my neighborhood. I’d also like to get my average miles per day up to at least 2.85. If I can do that – then 2024 could be over 1,040 miles.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll write about DeSoto County Florida. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Highlands, Homestead, Sebring

Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

2023 – Year In Review

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date January 4, 2024

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the first edition of 2024. It’s going to be a big year of travel for me as I settle-in to life as a retiree. I’ve got a long open-ended road-trip that I’m starting to plan for the month of April. I know I’m leaving on the morning of April Fool’s Day, but I don’t know when I’m returning home. (That’s why I’m calling it “open-ended”.) I’ll be writing about this road-trip a lot – before, during, and after – here on #TravelThursday, so buckle-up if you’re going along for the virtual ride.

#ButFirst it’s the continuation of my recap of 2023. I drove 11,721 miles in 2023. That’s the most number of miles driven over the past 9 years (since I’ve driven 1 of 3 Honda Civics). It’s also the most number of miles driven since 2004 (when I drove a new Saturn Ion 3 Quad Coupe 4D). How do I know all of this ? I keep accurate records via Excel Spreadsheet – more so now than in the past. I exceeded 1,000 miles in 8 out of 12 months – with January, September, November, and December being the exceptions. All of those miles were fueled by my 20 trips to my new home near Sebring Florida – and my 19 trips back to my longtime home in Homestead Florida. (Each trip was about 185 miles each way.)

My next 1,000-mile month will be in April, and in fact it will likely be a 2,500-mile month. It has the potential of being a 3,000-mile month – depending on the duration of my road-trip.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll conclude my “Year In Review”, and I’ll reveal if I was able to walk 1,000 miles in 2023. Let’s keep traveling together.

Tags Florida, Highlands, Homestead, Sebring

Blogging Driving Geography Home Travel

2023 – Year In Review

Post author By Chris M. Day
Post date December 28, 2023

Welcome back to #TravelThursday, and the final edition of 2023. It’s been a crazy year – even a life-changing year for me. It all changed on the morning of February 16TH 2023 when I drove 3 hours north from Homestead (my home since December 1987) to Highlands County Florida. I checked-in with my Real Estate Agent at her office in downtown Lake Placid (who I had met in June 2022), and we drove up the road to Sebring. We drove into my new neighborhood – which I had confirmed (to her and myself) – would be my new neighborhood when I toured it with her just 2 days after my 55TH birthday in 2022. (It’s a 55+ senior community.)

Long story short – I bought my dream home in my dream neighborhood in my dream part of Florida. The area that I had been driving through, and visiting, and vacationing occasionally for 8+ years, and stating that it would be my future retirement home – had become reality. It’s one of countless miracles for me from my Lord + Savior Jesus Christ. He knows the plans He has for me. They are plans for good and not for disaster – to give me a future and a hope.

I love reading (some of) my old Facebook blog posts from 2015, and 2016, and 2017 (before I returned here to WordPress) when I wrote about retiring in Highlands County and other adjacent areas.

Here’s what I wrote on February 09TH 2015:

“I’m embarking on another classic sightseeing road-trip vacation next weekend. I’ll cover about 575 miles of South, Southwest, and South Central Florida as I visit Fort Myers, Lake Placid, Sebring, and Lake Wales – all of which are currently in the running for my future retirement location. U.S. 27 is pretty much my main north-south route now from the Miami-Dade / Broward County Line straight-up past the Orlando area. I really like the classic route as well as all of the small historic towns along the way. It’s “Forgotten Florida” along the spine of the peninsula some 100 to 250 feet above sea level / both coasts on either side – lots of scenic hills and lakes.”

(I soon eliminated Fort Myers and eventually Lake Wales from consideration.)

I moved-in and closed on my new home on March 15TH 2023, and ever since then I’ve been driving back-and-forth between Homestead and Sebring. (I still have my Homestead home.)

Each trip northward is an “A” trip, and each trip southward is a “B” trip. I’m currently on “20A” – my 20TH trip to Sebring since buying my new home. “20B” occurs on January 02ND 2024 when I return to Homestead for 6 days and 5 nights. It’s 1 of 4 remaining trips to Homestead until I retire.

Next #TravelThursday – I’ll continue my “Year In Review”, and I’ll reveal if it was a record-breaking year of driving for me in 2023. Let’s keep traveling together.